Southern California -- this just in

Bakersfield hockey team mocks Stockton bankruptcy

September 18, 2012 | 12:02
pm

The Stockton Thunder hockey team has been the victim of
many marketing gimmicks by the Bakersfield Condors. Fans have put up with the
Thunder logo on toilet plungers and other “good-natured fun,” but now they say
“Boomtown Bakersfield” has finally crossed the line.

In a “curious, if not lame,” attempt to sell tickets, the Record in Stockton reports that the Bakersfield
team is promoting their Dec. 27 game against Stockton as “Our City Isn’t
Bankrupt Night” –- complete with handouts of fake $1 million bills and fake
Rolls-Royces.

Stockton’s fiscal crisis is no laughing matter, said furious
Stockton residents and sports columnists. Thunder President Dan Chapman was
angered by this “disgraceful promotion,” according to the Record.

Condors team President Matt Riley apologized and said the promotion was intended
to be funny. (The team did, after all, recently offer an amateur tryout contract
to pop singer Justin Bieber, with the intention of beefing up their
offense.)

"It was not our intent to make fun of people who may have lost their
jobs," Riley told the Bakersfield Californian. "And we sincerely
apologize to anyone who took it that way."

To smooth the ice, Riley is planning a new promotion that may include
two-for-one ticket deals to Stockton city employees, the paper reported.